Thursday, October 16, 2014

Pedophilia: A Disorder, Not a Crime - Summary 3

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/06/opinion/pedophilia-a-disorder-not-a-crime.htmlMargo Kaplan, in her opinion article "Pedophilia: A Disorder, Not a Crime", from The New York Times, asserts that "pedophile[s] should be held responsible for [their] conduct — but not for the underlying attraction" and that to prevent crimes, society must begin "[a]cknowledging that pedophiles have a mental disorder, and remov[e] the obstacles to their coming forward and seeking help" (Paragraph 15). Kaplan criticizes the fact that "our laws ignore pedophilia until after the commission of a sexual offense, emphasizing punishment, not prevention" and earnestly believes that this needs to change. The only way to prevent crimes from being committed and to give the proper therapy to those struggling with this disorder is to both enact laws and create an environment in which such individuals can come forward for treatment without repercussions. As Kaplan points out: "Without legal protection, a pedophile cannot risk seeking treatment or disclosing his status to anyone for support. He could lose his job, and future job prospects..." (Paragraph 11). Kaplan makes an interesting point. However, I doubt that such an environment can ever come to be. While it is important to get people with this problem to come forward, it is unlikely that they will be treated the same as they were before.